Other Views: Community college-Phoenix deal causes concern

If wishes were fishes, we'd like to see a few changes that might better support our institutions of higher learning.

First, of course, would be the removal of constitutional protections that make higher education and health care the major targets of any cuts in state support.

We'd like to see the TOPS scholarship program revised to not only encourage students to attend regional universities, but also to somehow reward the ones who use TOPS throughout their college years and accept jobs in Louisiana. Barring that change, to penalize those who leave the state by requiring them to pay back some or all of the scholarship they've been provided by the state's taxpayers.

We're worried about the annual tuition increases' impacts on families who've planned their college costs, and wondering about proposed legislation that would allow even more tuition changes.

And, we'd like to see the state's community colleges and regional universities work more closely to seamlessly provide a terminal degree, keeping in mind the non-traditional status of most community college associate-degree graduates.

That said, this discussion was prompted by legislative outrage at the Louisiana Technical and Community College's partnership agreement with the University of Phoenix, a private online institution with four campuses in Louisiana.

The system maintains its agreement is designed to protect students who enroll at Phoenix - and many of them are. The agreement says Phoenix will accept the transfer credits of community college students and guarantees their fair treatment.

We don't argue with our legislators on this one - the goal should be public to public institution. But is it reality?

Knowing the average community college student, a nontraditional school like Phoenix has great appeal. These aren't 18-year-olds. They're working moms and dads with families and full-time jobs.

Phoenix's strong television marketing is definitely a lure for this kind of nontraditional student, who is likely forced by life circumstances to fit in college courses while watching a T-ball game or by burning the midnight oil after the kids have gone to bed.

But it does raise the point - how well have our public institutions marketed themselves and how well do they accommodate a non-traditional student seeking to complete a degree?

We'd like to see a seamless transition for community college students in northeastern Louisiana to our public institutions. While the agreements to accept credits are in place, the ability for a nontraditional student to earn a bachelor's or advanced degree through non-traditional course offerings is not available in all disciplines.

Our public higher ed system needs to do a better job of reaching out to community college students and providing the kinds of courses they need to achieve their goals - night, Saturday, intensive weekend work, online, compressed video.

Otherwise, there'll be some commercials made in Louisiana.

"I am a Phoenix."

- The News-Star, Monroe

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Other Views: Community college-Phoenix deal causes concern

If wishes were fishes, we'd like to see a few changes that might better support our institutions of higher learning.First, of course, would be the removal of constitutional protections that make